Man Calls Suicide Prevention Hotline, SWAT Team Shows Up and Kills Him

[bradley]

Here's a video of a police detective saying much - in a very desensitized and nonchalant manner - without anything of substance. You would think the killing of suicidal men is a regular occurrence in Utah. Hey, we spent money on this cool militarized gear, might as well find use for it.

Roy man calls suicide hotline, killed after SWAT standoff
http://www.standard.net/Police/2014/10/21/Roy-man-dead-following-standoff-with-police.html


In this news report, we learn that this 35yo man was a quiet friendly divorcee (with an alleged prior history of alcoholism) living with his girlfriend and child. Negotiations between SWAT and the suspect broke down after something "dramatic" happened in the garage.

Police have yet to describe this "dramatic" event, whether indeed the suspect was armed, or why he was viewed as a threat. That makes my antennae raise.

Man Calls Suicide Hotline, Killed by SWAT Team
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_VZFpLlIZY

 

[SKORPI0]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_by_cop

The idea of committing suicide in this manner is based on trained procedures of law enforcement officers, specifically the policy on the use of deadly force. In jurisdictions where officials are readily capable of deadly force (often by being equipped with firearms), there are usually set circumstances where they will predictably use deadly force against a threat to themselves or others. This form of suicide functions by exploiting this trained reaction. The most common scenario is pointing a firearm at a police officer or an innocent person, which would reasonably provoke an officer to fire on them in defense. However, many variants exist; for example, attacking with a knife or other hand weapon, trying to run an officer or other person over with a car, or trying to trigger a (real or presumed) explosive device.
This entire concept hinges on the person's state of mind, and their desire to end their own life, which can be difficult to determine post mortem.[2] Some cases are obvious, such as pointing an unloaded or non-functioning gun (such as a toy gun or starter's pistol) at officers, or the presence of a suicide note. Some suspects brazenly announce their intention to die before they act (e.g., the iconic declaration "You'll never take me alive!"). However, many cases can be more difficult to determine, as some suspects with the desire to die will actually fire live ammunition and even kill people before being killed themselves. Many law enforcement training programs have added sections to specifically address handling these situations if officers suspect that the subject is attempting to goad them into using lethal force.

 

[bradley]

For those unconcerned over police militarization, here's another reference from Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting

Swatting is the tricking of any emergency service (via such means as hoaxing a 9-1-1 dispatcher) into dispatching an emergency response based on the false report of an on-going critical incident. Episodes range from large to small, from the deployment of bomb squads, SWAT units and other police units and the concurrent evacuations of schools and businesses to a single fabricated police report meant to discredit an individual as a prank or personal vendetta. While it is a misdemeanor or a felony in the USA in and of itself to report any untruth to law enforcement, swatting can cause massive disruption to the civil order and the public peace by the hoaxed deployment of police and other civic resources such as ambulances and fire departments. The term derives from SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), a highly specialized type of police unit.

Swatting has its origins in prank calls to emergency services. Increasing sophistication of the techniques employed and the objectives, notably attempts to direct response units of particular types, and in particular attempts to cause SWAT teams to be dispatched to particular locations, spawned the term swatting. The term was used by the FBI as far back as 2008.[1]

Techniques[edit]
Caller ID spoofing, social engineering, TTY, prank calls and phone phreaking techniques may be variously combined. 911 systems (including telephony and human operators) have been tricked by calls placed from cities hundreds of miles away or even from other countries.[12] The caller typically places a 911 call using a spoofed phone number with the goal of tricking emergency authorities into responding to an address with a SWAT team to an emergency that doesn't exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0nYW8bta58

 

[Grooveriding]

The police have been improperly trained for too long. Enforcing the law for the citizenry is not the same as going into armed conflict where the two sides are killing one another on sight. The two converging is pretty concerning.

Part of being a cop is going to be dealing with the mentally ill and not blowing them all away. I think part of the problem is whatever psychological checks are done on applicants are not up to par catching the morons who go into policing because they want to beat people down, shoot them and go John Wayne at the drop of a hat.

Secondly people are becoming more and more distrustful of the police because of reports of corruption and how they consistently avoid accountability. The government needs to start cracking down on the bad apples. No more paid leave, unpaid leave and termination of employment when they break the law. People lose respect for the institution when they see corrupt officers and/or officers who use violence as a first response and then double down on the loss of trust when they see them escape the just punishment of the law they were supposed to enforce.

When cops break the law start hauling them into court, trying them, convicting them and then throwing them in jail with the rest of the criminals. The current system of slapping them on the wrist or them getting away with it all together is eroding the public trust. It's too easy to become a cop. A job with that much responsibility needs to raise the bar of entry from where it currently sits.